Business | The lost art of self-management

Have McKinsey and its consulting rivals got too big?

The golden age for CEO whisperers may be coming to an end

Illustration of carton box filled with people in suits, a computer and a flower vase. — Photograph: Ricardo Tomás

Mar 25th 2024

AN ANONYMOUS MEMO briefly circled the web in March. The authors, who claimed to be former partners at McKinsey, rebuked the illustrious strategy consultancy for its pursuit in recent years of “unchecked and unmanaged growth”, and chastised its leadership for, of all things, a “lack of strategic focus”. With humility typical of McKinseyites, they warned that “an organisation of genuine greatness” was at risk of being lost.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “The lost art of self-management”